LOU COSTELLO

Louis Francis Cristillo (March 6, 1906 – March 3, 1959), professionally known as Lou Costello, was an American comedian and actor. He was best known for his double act with straight man Bud Abbott and their routine "Who's on First?".

The comedians, who teamed up in burlesque in 1936, were among the most popular and highest-paid entertainers in the world during World War II. During a national tour in 1942 they sold $85 million in war bonds in 35 days. By 1955, their popularity waned due to overexposure, and their film and television contracts lapsed. Their partnership ended in 1957.

Early life

Louis Francis Cristillo was born on March 6, 1906, in Paterson, New Jersey, the son of Helen Rege and Sebastiano Cristillo. His father was Italian, from Caserta in Campania, Italy, and his mother was an American of Italian, French and Irish ancestry (her grandfather was Francesco Rege, from Piedmont, Italy). Costello attended Public School 15 in Paterson and was considered a gifted athlete. He excelled in basketball and reportedly was twice Paterson's free throw champion. (His basketball prowess can be seen in Here Come the Co-Eds (1945), in which he performs all his own trick basketball shots without using a double or special effects.) He also fought as a boxer under the name "Lou King".

Fame and tragedy

Abbott and Costello made 36 films from 1940 to 1956, and were among the most popular and highest-paid entertainers in the world during World War II. Among their most popular films are Buck Privates, Hold That Ghost, Who Done It?, Pardon My Sarong, The Time of Their Lives, Buck Privates Come Home, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man.

In the summer of 1942, the team went on a 35-day cross-country tour to promote and sell War Bonds. The Treasury Department credited them with the sale of $85 million in bonds.

In March 1943, after completing a winter tour of army bases, Costello had an attack of rheumatic fever and was unable to work for six months. On November 4 of that year, he returned to the team's popular radio show, but while rehearsing at their NBC studio, Costello received word that his infant son, Lou Jr., had accidentally drowned in the family pool. The baby worked loose the slats in his crib, climbed out and fell into the pool, unnoticed by the nanny. The baby ('Little Butch') was just two days short of his first birthday. Lou had asked his wife to keep Butch up that night so the boy could hear his father on the radio for the first time. Rather than cancel the broadcast, Lou said, "Wherever he is tonight, I want him to hear me", and went on with the show. No one in the audience knew of the death until after the show, when Bud Abbott explained the sad events of the day and how Lou epitomized the phrase "The show must go on" that night. Maxene Andrews of The Andrews Sisters, said that his entire demeanor changed after the tragic loss of his son, saying, "He didn't seem as fun-loving and as warm ... He seemed to anger easily ... there was a difference in his attitude."

As their careers grew more successful, serious cracks began to appear in Abbott and Costello's relationship. Reportedly, their first disagreement was in 1936 over a booking in a minstrel show at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Costello wanted to take the gig, but Abbott was hesitant. Costello offered to give Abbott a larger split of their salary, and Abbott agreed. At the end of 1941, Costello insisted that the team split their income 60/40 in Costello's favor.

In 1945, when Costello fired a maid and Abbott hired her, Costello announced that he would no longer work with Abbott. However, they were still under contract to Universal and required to complete two movies in 1946. They did Little Giant and The Time of Their Lives, but barely appeared together in either film and rarely spoke to one another off-camera. Abbott reached out to heal their relationship, suggesting that the foundation he and Costello had founded for rheumatic fever sufferers be named the Lou Costello Jr. Youth Foundation, which touched Costello deeply. The project became a youth foundation that still exists.

Abbott and Costello split

By the mid-1950s, the Abbott and Costello films were no longer box office gold. With concurrent film and television appearances, they suffered from overexposure, and were further eclipsed by Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, who were the hot entertainment commodity of the 1950s that Abbott and Costello were a decade earlier. After failing to come to terms with the team, Universal dropped their movie contract in 1955.

In the early 1950s, troubles with the Internal Revenue Service forced both men to sell their large homes and the rights to some of their films. Abbott and Costello made their final film together, Dance with Me, Henry in 1956. The film was a box-office disappointment and received mixed critical reviews.

Abbott and Costello dissolved their partnership in 1957 amicably. Costello worked with other comedians, including Sidney Fields in Las Vegas, and sought film and television projects for himself. He appeared several times on Steve Allen's The Tonight Show, most often doing his old routines with Louis Nye or Tom Poston in the straight man role. In 1958, he played a dramatic role on The Tobias Jones Story episode of Wagon Train.

Death

Shortly after completion of The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock, his only film appearance without Abbott, Costello suffered a heart attack. He died at Doctors Hospital in Beverly Hills on March 3, 1959, three days before his 53rd birthday. Sources conflict on the circumstances of his last day and final words. By some accounts, restated in numerous "quotes" aggregates, he told visitors that the strawberry ice-cream soda he had just finished was "the best I ever tasted", then expired. By other reports, including several contemporaneous obituaries, the ice-cream soda exchange occurred earlier in the day; later, after his wife and friends had left, he asked his private-duty nurse to adjust his position in bed. "I think I'll be more comfortable", he said; but before the nurse could comply, he suffered a cardiac arrest and died.

After a funeral Mass at his parish, St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Sherman Oaks, Costello was interred at the Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles, on March 8. His wife Anne died from an apparent heart attack nine months later on December 5, 1959, at age 47.

Family

On January 30, 1934, Costello married Anne Battler, a burlesque dancer. Their first child, Patricia "Paddy" Costello, was born in 1936, followed by Carole on December 23, 1938, and Lou Jr. (nicknamed "Butch") on November 6, 1942. On August 15, 1947, their last child, Christine, was born.

Lou and Anne's youngest daughter, Chris, published a biography, Lou's On First, in 1981.